Inside the New York Yankees clubhouse with MLB.com beat writer Bryan Hoch.

Closing thoughts from Clearwater

Just finishing things up here in Clearwater, where the skies are still overcast and it’s beginning to look like a good thing that I’ve been keeping a fleece sweater in the trunk of my car since … oh, say, February 11.

It appears that Derek Jeter has taken to the friendly skies after Team USA’s loss, hoping to make it back for the Tuesday night game against the Red Sox.

Girardi said that he’s planning on accommodating Jeter and re-writing his lineup card. They don’t necessarily have to do anything special with Jeter for the rest of camp – all things considered, Girardi said Jeter should be able to have had close to 60 at-bats this spring, which is enough.

Chien-Ming Wang took Brett Tomko’s innings today, so the Yankees will stretch out their long relief candidates on Saturday against the Braves. Tomko and Dan Giese will both get a lot of work while Wang stays behind in Tampa … weather permitting. The Yankees didn’t take a long reliever out of camp last year, but this year one may be more crucial because of the limitation on Joba Chamberlain’s innings.

Brian Bruney (7.42 ERA) is having a rough spring. He was half-joking today when he said that he hopes he can still make the team, and Girardi said that he doesn’t need to worry about that – they still want him to be the eighth inning man. But they’d also like to see him not give up two-run bombs to Matt Stairs.

Girardi said the Yankees need to find a way to get him going. If they don’t (me talking, not Girardi), imagine how quickly the ‘Joba needs to be in the bullpen’ crowd will take it to the next level?

Just based on the stats and accomplishments, I really don’t think Schilling has a chance compared to the other notable pitchers of our time — of course, this is excluding Pedro and Smoltz, both of which would probably get the nod over Schilling as well.

REPEATED FROM PRIOR THREADS
BP & Mate,
I think we’re forced to carry another UI like Berroa (I’d be happier with Pena but wouldn’t want to lose him to waivers) until A-Rod returns so I would have Coke and Robertson split the long relief. This would mean Giese would be DFAed but we would still have Tomko or Aceves to promote when A-Rod is ready if Giese is claimed!

This is why I don’t complain about all of those big salaries. It takes a lot of talent to play MLB. Life is short, and a baseball career is even shorter!

Pilittere is one of my favorite dark horses. I’ll be curious to see where he lands for this season.

Bryan,
do you see a scenerio where the Yankees don’t carry a utility guy and go with extra pitching? Perhaps bring up Pena once a week to give days off (Cano, Jeter, Ransom) and then sending him back down. Then, Ransom becomes the utility infielder when Arod is healthy. We have plenty of 1B but don’t have anyone to spell Jeter, Cano and Ransom.

I don’t think Bruney’s deserved the 8th inning yet. He had a good 08 before injury but how do we know that just wasn’t a blip and he’ll be back to his 07 form.

Hopefully the SP will hold up, the lefties in the pen will do their job and Bruney might only be needed for an out or two not the go to guy for every 8th. Still, could be worse…I see the A’s pitching staff are having a formidable night, 23 hits, 19 ER and counting, ouch.

Meta

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